Remember yesterday, when I said that today our cousins were going to meet up with us to celebrate my brother's birthday? Well, what I didn't mention was that.... we were going to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

We hadn't gone to Animal Kingdom in forever, and when we did go when I was younger, it was kind of just a half day park where we didn't do a whole lot. We had planned on going back eventually, but when my brother requested this park as his birthday experience, we figured it gave us the perfect opportunity to go!

Everyone was thrilled that our cousins were able to join us, and it truly made the day that much more exciting. The kids were all so happy to be with each other, and they all had a buddy for anything that they wanted to do throughout the day. My six-year-old cousin and my four-year-old cousin had never been to Disney before, so we were happy to be part of their first experience.

We even got Birthday Buttons for my brother and my mom, as well as First Visit buttons for my cousins, and it was awesome for them to get attention all day. My mom and brother even got pulled up by drummers in the Africa section to be recognized for their birthdays... My brother got kind of freaked out and wouldn't go up, but my mom did, and it was really cool. We followed along in some kind of African birthday song, and my mom and the two other birthday Guests danced.

One of the great parts about today was that we had planned ahead and gotten Fast Passes for the safari... We've always wanted to go on the safari but somehow it just never worked out. It had rained, or lines were too long; today, we were determined to go on, and it was well worth it! We were able to see plenty of beautiful animals, from the lion to zebras, giraffes and elephants. There were even some babies that drew squeals of glee from my sisters and cousins. Alright, and from me too! It was so cool! We even had to stop the truck at one point because there were ostriches crossing the road! Now there's the beginning of a joke, am I right?

We saw "Finding Nemo: the musical" and it was wonderful! I've always loved the movie, and the show was "fin"-tastic as well! I teared up a bit at a few parts because it was such a great experience. We had never seen this show before, so it was something new for all twelve of us, which was perfect.

When we went to see "The Festival of the Lion King" show, it was something that my family had seen when my siblings and I were younger, though I don't believe that the twins had seen it. Still, I couldn't remember exactly what it was about, though I knew that it was an amazing show. We were all so thrilled that we went, because it was seriously one of the best parts of the whole day. It was so overwhelming and beautiful and thrilling, and I definitely started crying throughout, even more so than at the Nemo show. It was wonderful!

I've included some pictures below as just a screenshot of what our day was like.

We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but the fact that Animal Kingdom closes at 6:30pm gave us the excuse we needed to get the younger kids to leave. We actually didn't even get out of the park and into our cars until almost 7:30pm, which was incredible to me. It was awesome being some of the last people in the park, getting a few pictures without massive crowds in front of us.

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About

My family has been doing foster care since I was three years old. I'm the only biological child in my family, though I now have five permanent siblings. Having nineteen siblings over the course of my lifetime has been an incredible experience, and I'm hoping that by sharing some of the ups and downs of being the only bio kid in a foster family, other foster families or people looking into doing foster care will be able to learn a bit of what life can be like. I also like to share what life is like on my journey to becoming a published author, as well as where my schooling and career choice are taking me.